New Season of Sport Springs into Action

Tuesday 16^th January

U8 Football v Hereford Cathedral

On Tuesday afternoon, Year Three had their first-ever football fixtures, playing matches against teams from Hereford Cathedral School. In the first game we played a very good outfit, who kept possession well, and we found it difficult to get the ball back. However, we did manage to keep our shape quite well, which was positive in our first outing. Despite a tough game, the boys kept trying right until the end, and were rewarded with a good goal by Mathew, right on the final whistle. The second game was more even, but we did still struggle to keep the ball and move it into space. Again, to the boys’ credit, they kept going until the final whistle and managed to score another goal before the game finished. There are plenty of lessons to be learned as we move on to next week’s fixture.

U9 Football v RGS Springfield and Hereford Cathedral

Nine children from Year Four travelled to King’s School’s Cinderella Ground to represent St Alban’s in their first football fixtures of the year. The team was made up of a mixture of girls and boys from this year group, and there had been plenty of excitement from the children in the build-up to the afternoon! The team played two matches against teams from Hereford Cathedral School and RGS Springfield, and demonstrated good teamwork throughout both games.

Zack, Jasper and Pip all showed great effort and determination when they had the ball, and the quartet of girls, made up of Thea, Nell, Romi and Martha, all helped to strengthen the team in defence. All of the children played well together and were able to put some of the different passing, dribbling and shooting skills that they had developed in football club last term into action during the matches. Henry played well in goal on his goalkeeping debut and made several good saves when called upon; Ben and Thea led by example when they had the ball. Zack and Thea scored a couple of well-taken goals, which delighted the rest of the team!

After a comfortable victory against RGS Springfield in their first match, the team played well against a strong team from Hereford Cathedral School and, despite the narrow loss, the children really enjoyed playing together and gained lots of useful match experience throughout the afternoon. It also helped to show a couple of areas for development which we will look to focus on before our next match. Well done to all of the children who took part, and a big thank you to all of the parents who came to support them on a very chilly afternoon!

Wednesday 17^th January

U11 Football Tournament at Winterfold

Ten boys from Year Six made the short journey to Winterfold on Wednesday afternoon to play in the Matty Thacker Football Tournament. The tournament is an annual event that takes place in memory of one of their former pupils, Matthew Thacker, and is always a popular event, played in great spirit.

After being drawn in a tough group, the aim for the team was to enjoy themselves whilst trying to play their best football in order to reach the knockout stages. After a great opening match, which resulted in a solid draw against our friends from King’s Hawford, the boys’ spirits were high. Another draw against Bluecoat followed, before the boys secured their first win, against the tournament hosts, Winterfold, after Ethan scored our opening goal. The team were tested in the next game after The Elms scored the first goal against the run of play. However, the boys didn’t panic (too much!), and composed themselves, before scoring a well-worked team goal to ensure that the match finished in a 1-1 draw. A convincing 3-0 win against Moor Park ensured that the boys went through to the semi-final of the Cup Competition, against a strong team from Warwick School. The team played some impressive attacking and defensive football in this match, which ended up going to penalties, as neither team could be separated, with Theo playing a crucial role in goal to ensure that the team were victorious and went through to the Cup Final. After the quality of the opening match, it almost seemed inevitable that King’s St Alban’s would end up playing King’s Hawford again, this time in the final! After a tense match, with some fantastic football from both teams, neither team could be separated in open play; once again, the match went to penalties. It wasn’t to be this time, though, after the goalkeeper from King’s Hawford made three fantastic saves to secure the Cup Final victory for them: congratulations King’s Hawford!

A massive “Well done!” must go to Sam, Francis, Monty, Henry, Rook, Joshua, Aaron, Joel, Ethan and Theo, who all played their part in a fantastic team performance all afternoon. This was a great start to the football term and, whilst it helped the coaches to identify a few areas for further development, it bodes well for our upcoming fixtures.

Thank you very much to Mr. Hooman, who did a great job of refereeing the matches, and a special thank you to all of the parents and grandparents who came and stood in the cold all afternoon to support the boys: your support is always very much appreciated!